Modern biological research relies on big data analytics. Vast reservoirs of memory and powerful computing ability mean machines find patterns and make meta-analyses and even predictions for scientists.

In the future it will be possible to donate our personal data to charitable causes. All sorts of data is recorded about us as we go about our daily lives – what we buy, where we go, who we call on the…

Facebook can remember it for you wholesale - whether you like it or not.
Anikei/ShutterstockJanuary 5, 2015

Facebook’s recent apology for its Year in Review feature, which had displayed to a grieving father images of his dead daughter, highlights again the tricky relationship between the social media behemoth…

The consent policies of popular websites would take a month to read. Perhaps including a sign like this would be a simpler solution.
ShutterstockDecember 15, 2014

We live in a world increasingly dominated by our personal data. Some of those data we choose to reveal, for example, through social media, email and the billions – yes, billions – of messages, photos and…

A collaboration between historians, text mining, and information visualisation researchers has thrown up new insight into the hunger for sugar, coffee and rubber in the 19th century, as well as how fat…